What Does a Podiatrist Do?

Sometimes in life, you need a little (or a lot!) professional help:

If you live in the greater Dallas community and are in need of tailoring services, you might want to call up Harry’s Tailor Shop to perform your clothing alterations.

Need to remodel your kitchen or guest bathroom? Reach out to the pros at Hatfield Builders & Remodelers and they’ll help you get the job done.

You’re about to head on a road trip and want a mechanic to make sure you’re ready for a headache-free trip? Contact Master Mechanics and schedule an appointment.

As you can see, knowing where to go for the services you need is quite important. After all, we’re sure Harry would do his best to install some new cabinets, but you probably aren’t going to get the same results as if you just went with Hatfield in the first place.

And the same holds true when it comes to foot care services!

For example, if you are suffering from heel pain, the appropriate medical specialist you need to see is a Podiatrist—just like the ones on staff here at Texas Foot and Ankle Center.

What Is a Podiatrist?

Podiatrists are doctors of podiatric medicine (DPM), who have completed four years of podiatric medical school, followed by extended specialized foot and ankle, medical and surgical training in Hospital based Residency.

Just as you’d schedule an appointment with an optometrist for an eye issue, you should see a Podiatrist for any problems with your feet, including ones that fall in general areas such as:

Heel and Arch Pain

Many patients come see us to receive professional treatment for heel and arch pain. Fortunately, we are able to help a vast majority of them without needing to recommend surgery.

Skin and Nail Conditions

Ingrowntoenails, plantar warts, athlete’s foot, and fungal toenailsare all common issues that we not only treat, but also have prevention tipsso you canlower your risk of developing a problem in the first place.

Pediatric Foot Care

Providing foot care for children is important to keep them healthy, active, and developing on a normal trajectory. Being aware of common child foot problems will enable you to identify and address them at the earliest possible opportunity—thereby allowing your child to be healthy and happy.

Sports Injuries

Your feet and anklesare used in a vast majority of the sports (and other physical activities) you and your loved onesenjoy. Since they are heavily used in such activities, the lower limbs have a greater risk for injury. We can help you overcome sports injuries and get back in the game at the earliest possible opportunity!

Diabetic foot care and Non-Healing Wound Care.

Providingextensive and thorough foot evaluations and care, for Diabetics, with recommendations that will help to keep your feet healthy. In Wound care, we use state of the art wound care techniques and products to effectively treat and heal your non-healing wounds, quickly in attempts to avoid serious infections or amputations.

One particular type of treatment that we can perform—but will take every possible measure to avoid—is foot and ankle surgery. In the event we do recommend surgical intervention, you can take comfort knowing that we have performed many successful surgeries for other patients who had the same problem you are experiencing.

In addition to providing care for existing issues, Podiatrists can also provide advice and information to help prevent them from happening in the first place. This is especially important for individuals who live with diabetes.

We can help those afflicted with this disease to create a diabetic foot care plan to keep them safe and reduce the risk of serious medical complications.

What doOur Podiatristsdo?

Even if you’ve needed professional foot care in the past, there’s a decent chance you only were able to get a small picture of the various activities and responsibilities we perform throughout a Podiatrist’s day. With that in mind, here’s a closer look at what we do to provide you with the best possible medical care:

We take the time to listen to you.

This is an important part of being a Podiatrist for a simple reason—you’re the only one who is able to describe the symptoms and feelings you’re experiencing. And we take what you say and use it as part of determining exactly what is happening in your foot or ankle. (Plus, we enjoy getting to know our patients!)

We order tests.

This can be yet another important part of the diagnostic process, and especially when we need to see what’s happening inside your body. To do so, we might need to order an X-ray, CT scan, or MRI (depending on the details of your particular case). At other times, we may use simple lab tests to either confirm or (even better) rule out certain issues.

We provide treatment for your feet and ankles.

For being such (relatively) small parts of the body, feet are incredibly complex. They are intricately structured and endure tremendous amounts of physical force and stress. Add it all up, and there are many different possible injuries and conditions. As such, we have a wide array of possible options as we create a customized treatment plan so you can go back to your favorite activities at the earliest possible opportunity.

We examine your affected foot.

Whereas listening to you is quite valuable for diagnosing your condition, we do need to conduct a physical examination as well. Doing so helps give us an even better picture so we can determine the best course of action to get you back on your feet at the earliest possible opportunity. During an examination, we may need to feel various areas of your foot to see how structural components (bones, ligaments, tendons) are positioned.

We consider all the evidence to provide a diagnosis.

We take all of the facts and insights we’ve gathered—from talking to you, examining the injured limb, and any tests performed—and then apply our experience and training to determine what is wrong and why it happened. Often, the diagnosis is ratherclear cut, but there are also certainly times when the situation’s a bit more complicated and we have to spend extra time solving the puzzle—al in the name of making sure you receive the best possible treatment.

We discuss things with you.

Perhaps an overlooked element of medical professions is that we are responsible for helping you to understand your condition or injury and what we are doing to address it. Sometimes, we have to discuss your treatment options (and especially if we are recommending surgery). More than that, we cover preventative measures, dietary plans (for gout and diabetic foot care), and just about anything else that can pertain to your health and wellbeing.

These are all very important responsibilities as we aim to serve our mission of providing you with the best possible foot care.

So how do you know when it’s time to contact our office?

As a general “rule of thumb,” you should give us a call when you (or one of your loved one’s) experience pain or impaired function of a foot or ankle—and especially if the symptoms are severe and/or long-lasting!

Too often, people are quick to dismiss foot pain as “normal” or “not a big deal,” but consider this:

Pain is your body’s way of letting you know there’s a problem.

And when it comes to problems in feet and ankles, our Podiatrists at Texas Foot and Ankle Center are ready to listen to you, determine what is wrong, and then create a customized treatment plan to resolve it in a timely manner.

This whole process starts with a simple phone call. If you would like more information or want to request an appointment with our Dallas office, please feel free to reach us at (214) 660-0777 and our team will be happy to assist you.